Drill hole connector device

ABSTRACT

A DRILL HOLE CONNECTOR DEVICE FOR USE IN MINES WHICH COMPRISES A HOUSING HAVING A CYLINDRICAL PORTION ADAPTED TO FIT INTO A DRILL HOLE, A RESILIENT RING SURROUNDING THE HOUSING AND BEING CAPABLE OF BEING COMPRESSED BY MEANS OF AN EXTERNAL SLEEVE DISPOSED ABOUT THE HOUSING. THE AXIAL COMPRESSION AND RADIAL EXPANSION OF THE RESILIENT RING HOLDS THE DEVICE IN THE DRILL HOLE.

Sept. 20, 1971 w, BERGERON EI'AL 3,605,922

PULL HOLE CONNECTOR DEVICE Filed July 29, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 O m m NN fix? *1 9' L1.

Willard l. BERGERON John David GALLAGHER RNEYS p 20, 1971 w. l.BERGER-ON ETAL 3,605,922

PULL HOLE CONNECTOR DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 29. 1969 m oEINVEN'IORS Willard I. BERGERON John David GALLAGHER v TORNE YS w. I.BERGERON ETAL 3,605,922

PULL HOLE CONNECTOR DEVICE Sept. 20, 1911 Filed Jui 29. 1969 3Sheets-Sheet S q SE INVENTORS Willard I. BERGERON John David GALLAGHERWM ATTORNEYS United States Patent O1 3,605,922 P tented Sept. 20, 19713,605,922 DRILL HOLE CONNECTOR DEVICE Willard I. Bergeron, 478Surprenant, Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, and John David Gallagher,Chapais, Abitibi East, Quebec, Canada Filed July 29, 1969, Ser. No.845,718 Claims priority, application Canada, June 21, 1969,

Int. Cl. E2111 23/06, 33/02 U.S. Cl. 175-410 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A drill hole connector device for use in mines whichcomprises a housing having a cylindrical portion adapted to fit into adrill hole, a resilient ring surrounding the .housing and being capableof being compressed by means of an external sleeve disposed about thehousing. The axial compression and radial expansion of the resilientring holds the device in the drill hole.

This invention relates to a connector device for drill holes in mines.

Diamond drilling is an integral part of underground mining and drillholes are used for a number of different purposes. However, these drillholes can also provide certain difiiculties.

In a mine, as an underground excavation becomes quite large, it has beena practice to provide a platform from which additional drilling may bedone, but the erection of such working platforms has proven to be ratherexpensive and cumbersome. Another technique that has been used is thecut and fill method, whereby as the excavation becomes larger theworking floor is raised by bringing in fill from outside the excavationand distributing it about the working floor. In the past, rock and sandhas been used for back fill but this method has also been found to beexpensive and time consuming.

More recently a system has been developed whereby mill tailings arereturned to the mines as back fill. It has been found that these milltailings can be economically returned to the mines by crushing them intoa fine powder and mixing this powder with about 40% water to produce ahydraulic fill which can be pumped and transported through conduits to alocation in a mine at which it is to be deposited and distributed. Ithas been found to be particularly convenient to make use of drill holesin the rock as conduits for this hydraulic fill.

A problem has arisen in such a system at the point at which thehydraulic fill leaves a drill hole and commences travelling in a normalpipe. Thus, connecting the pipe to the drill hole has proven to berather difficult and the usual method in use today is to insert the pipeinto the drill hole area and line the whole surrounding area with groutin an effort to fix the pipe into the drill hole and prevent any leaks.This is obviously a very cumbersome and time consuming procedure and theconnection obtained is prone to developing leaks. Moreover, when thepipe which is fixed in the drill hole wears out and must be replaced, itis necessary to repeat the entire procedure. Thus, there has been a needfor a better system for connecting a pipe to a drill hole.

Another problem is encountered when drilling a hole through an areawhich may become flooded. Once water starts pouring out of a drill holeit has been found to be extremely ditficult to then plug the hole. Thus,there has also been need for a drill hole connector which could be usedto temporarily close such a hole until proper repairs can be made.

According to the present invention, a very simple and convenientmulti-purpose connector for drill holes in rock has been developed. Theconnector device of the invention has a housing including a cylindricalportion which is adapted to be inserted into a drill hole in rock and apassageway extending longitudinally through the housing. One or moreexternal sleeves are disposed over the insertable portion of the housingand are axially movable therealong and an external abutment is fixed onthe insertable portion of the housing, preferably close to the end whichis inserted. One or more compressible resilient rings surround thehousing between the sleeve and the abutment and when a series of suchresilient rings are used these are interspaced by individual sleeves. Ameans is also provided for forcing the sleeve or sleeves in thedirection of the abutment, thus causing axial compression and radialexpansion of the resilient ring or rings to fix the device within adrill hole.

A convenient means for forcing the sleeve in the direction of theabutment has been found to be one or more expansion bolts mounted on thehousing and adapted to push axially against the sleeve. It will, ofcourse, be appreciated that numerous other arrangements are availablefor this same purpose.

When the connector is being used for pumping hydraulic fill, which is avery abrasive material, it has been found to be advantageous to providean internal tubular lining within the longitudinal passageway which canbe replaced when it becomes worn. This avoids the expense of having toreplace the entire connector because of wear.

When the connector is intended to be used for temporarily closing a holeduring diamond drilling, a larger hole is drilled into the rock and aconnector according to the invention is inserted. Then a smaller diamonddrill is passed through the connector and the drilling is continued.Such a connector can be provided with a valve so that in the event thatwater is struck by the drill and starts flooding back through the hole,the drill can be removed and the valve closed thus stopping any furtherflooding.

Another situation in which the connectors of this invention have beenfound to be extremely convenient has been when blasting is being done inareas which are joined by drill holes. This can be rather a seriousproblcm since compression waves travelling through the drill holes cancause damage and injury to personnel in adjoining areas. By insertingone of the connectors of the invention into each such drill hole andplacing a cap over the outer end of the connector, these drill holes canbe conveniently shut 0E until blasting has been carried out.

Certain preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by theattached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a general view showing the pipe connection in relation to adiamond drill hole in a rock face;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the connector;

FIG. 3 is a detail of a safety clamp; and

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a further embodiment of theconnector.

The particular arrangement shown in FIG. 1 is intended for conveyinghydraulic fill. A diamond drill hole 11, which is usually about 3 inchesin diameter, is provided in the rock face 16. The connector 12 ispositioned in the hole and is connected to elbow 13 which is in turnconnected to a flexible deflector hose 14 and finally into a conveyorpipe 15 which conveys the hydraulic fill to any location within anexcavated area as desired.

To ensure the rigidity of the connector 12 in the hole 7 11, anadditional safety clamp 17 can be used. This safety clamp is mounted onthe rock face 16 by means of rock bolts 18.

The details of the connector are shown in FIG. 2. The tubular liner 20is surrounded by the main housing 21 of the connector and in thisparticular embodiment the housing 21 is divided into two portions 21aand 21b joined together by a coupling 28 of the compression type. Thehousing portion 21a is welded to the liner so that the liner can beconveniently removed simply by removing coupling 28 and taking out theliner with the housing portion 21a.

A series of sleeves 22a, 22b and 22c surround the housing 21b with thesleeves 22b and 220 acting as spacers between resilient rubber rings 23.An annular abutment 24 is provided at the end of housing 21b and washers30 are positioned between the sleeves 22 and the resilient rings 23.

A series of equally spaced brackets 26 are mounted on the housing 21band hold bolts 27 which are adapted to press against an abutment fixedon sleeve 22a. When the end of the connector containing the resilientrings 23 is placed in a diamond drill hole in a rock face, the bolts 27are turned forcing the sleeves 22a, 22b, and 22c in the direction ofabutment 24 thus causing axial compression and radial expansion of therings 23 so that they press against the wall of the drill hole andsnugly hold the connector in position in the drill hole.

The safety clamp 17 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 3 from which itwill be seen that the clamp consists of a pair of clamping members 31having mating semicylindrical portions 32 which fit around housing 21and are firmly held in place on the housing by means of bolts passingthrough the holes 33. This clamp is then also rigidly fixed to the rockwall by means of the rock bolts 18 as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a simplified version of the connector which is intended foruse purely as a closure means for a drill hole. This device does notinclude the tubular liner 20 since abrasive materials are not passingthrough and is closed at the outer end by means of cap which isconnected to housing 21b by means of the coupling 28.

When the connector is used to prevent flooding during diamond drilling,the cap 30 is removed and replaced by a gate valve. With this gate valveopen the drill bit can pass through the passageway of the connector, butwhen flooding begins the drill bit is removed and the gate valve isclosed to prevent any further flooding until the cause of the floodingcan be corrected.

What we claim is:

1. Drill hole connector device, comprising:

(a) a housing having a cylindrical portion adapted to be inserted into adrill hole in rock and including a passageway extending longitudinallytherethrough adapted to convey hydraulic fill,

(b) at least one external sleeve disposed over the insertable portion ofsaid housing and axially movable therealong,

(c) an external abutment fixed on the insertable portion of saidhousing,

(d) at least one compressible resilient ring surrounding said housingbetween the sleeve and the abutment,

(e) means for forcing the sleeve in the direction of the abutment,causing axial compression and radial expansion of the resilient ring tofix the device Within a drill hole, said means adapted to be locatedexteriorly of said drill hole,

(f) a replaceable tubular liner positioned within said housing andprotruding beyond the external end of said housing, and

(g) means for connecting a conduit system for hydraulic fill to theexternal end of said replaceable tubular liner.

2. A drill hole connector according to claim 1, wherein a series ofresilient rings is provided interspaced by sleeves.

3. A drill hole connector according to claim 1, connected to a conduitsystem for hydraulic fill.

4. A drill hole connector according to claim 1, including a safety clampfixed to a portion of the housing outside the drill hole and fixed to arock wall by means of rock bolts.

5. A drill hole connector according to claim 1, wherein the external endof said tubular liner is provided with a closure cap.

6. A drill hole connector according to claim 1, wherein the means forforcing the sleeve in the direction of the abutment includes a bolt.

7. A drill hole connector according to claim 6, wherein the bolt ismounted in a bracket fixed to the housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 999,000 7/1911 Trippe 166-196X1,455,731 5/1923 Kelly 16696X 1,734,040 11/1929 McEvoy 277-116.42,973,820 3/1961 Hagerman et al. 210X 2,878,876 3/1959 Long 166196X3,469,629 9/1969 Adamache et al. l66196X FOREIGN PATENTS 457,602 6/ 1949Canada 175209 630,761 5/1936 Germany 175-210 DAVID H. BROWN, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R.

